Around 6,000 teachers of aided colleges in Tamil Nadu, may not receive their salary for the month of January, which is to be paid on January 31, on time.
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The Association of University Teachers (AUT) has condemned the “apathy” of the Department of Higher Education towards the livelihood of these teachers. AUT State president, P. Thirunavukkarasu, said the Department had suspended salary disbursal stating that the government had not allocated funds.
Mr. Thirunavukkarasu explained that usually by the last week of every month, aided colleges would upload salary details of their faculty on to to a portal provided by the government for this purpose. But this month, the link hasn’t opened, delaying the salary for January, which is due to be paid on the 31st of the month.
“For aided colleges the government allocates a grant for salaries at the 184 such colleges in the State. The Director of Collegiate Education (DCE) must prepare an estimate for the same. The previous DCE had erred in his estimation of salaries, which is now causing this issue,” he said.
Mr. Thirunavukkarasu said that in December the Department had also stopped payouts under the career advancement scheme for teachers. “At that time we had flagged the issue to the Department and the Secretary. We had even staged a dharna at the Directorate. Despite this, the Higher Education Secretary has not taken any steps to resolve the issue,” he said. He added that government must take urgent steps to address the salary and the career advancements payout issue for teachers at aided colleges.